of course YouTube is going to choose that thumbnail to bait slut-shamers and crypto-racists (or people who are a wee bit too quick to accuse people of being a slut-shamer or crypt-racist, like Earl Sweatshirt or me on a bad day), gits.Last edited: 12.11.2014 05:04

****It will grow on me, but unfortunately I didn't like it first listen. Even though I love(d) Glee, it sounds like a Glee song, and not in a good way.

EDIT: This kind of grew on me, but probably more because of its international success and its popularity at parties. Decent enough, but I think there are better tracks on here.Last edited: 04.01.2015 02:32

*Awful! I didn't find it too bad on first listen but I quickly begun to have an allergic reaction to this pretty quickly. This then turned into a dislike when I became more familiar with it and then it just kept getting worse for me until I really hated it. And the worst part is that almost everyone else loves it!

Many, many things wrong with this in my opinion. For starters it reminds me of "Whip My Hair" which is just really cringeworthy. Not quite as bad as that, but that's not much of a compliment. The lyrics are awful and Taylor Swift really shouldn't have written a song about her haters. It's actually really annoying that Lady Gaga constantly gets called out for being pretentious, yet little hate has been directed towards Taylor. The whole thing reeks of pretension imo and I absolutely cannot stand it. If you really shook off people's criticism you wouldn't have needed to write a song about it! The way she prances around in the music video like this isn't a desperate song to release as a comeback track and how she and this song are above and beyond other pop artist's work is revolting. And don't get me started on whatever the bridge is supposed to be, just ugh. Really hate the use of "haters gonna hate" as I find that saying really dumb. I guess musically this is okay, but there's so many tracks with this sound from the past few years that I have no reason to care about it here. While I've never been huge on Taylor, I've always thought she has been good at writing relatable songs. How is this relatable to most of the general public? I don't approve of people slagging her off for her love life but this was totally not a necessary thing to release. The worst part is that when I went into it I was expecting something really good, so disappointing is an understatement. Really vile and I greatly despise that it was such a massive hit.

I just really hope that this disappears as quickly as possible now, it's excruciating seeing so many people still buying it in December. My worst song of 2014 and Taylor's worst for me.

****Finally a hit single that appreciates the awesomeness that is Mischief Makers, shake shake! And you don't even need to shake it to get the gold because it's far from dire.

In all seriousness though, this speaks volumes to me. As music is (despite being super popular) something of a nichey hardcore interest, when it gets pulled up in mainstream media, it's subject to small reference pools (eg. Bob Marley is the only reggae artist people have heard of, so if you say a reggae artist, it has to be Bob Marley). But this in itself is subject to a deeper rooted version of the same problem. Namely, yeah, the average person has heard of this handful of musical artists, but what do they actually know ABOUT them? And it always disappoints me when it's not actually about the music. I mean sure, you could remember Kanye West (oh look I'm doing it too :P) for all the acclaimed albums, or it's much easier to remember him for silly things he's said and done on TV and who he's married to. For Taylor, at least since "Red" came out, it's a rarity to see some tabloid mention on her on anything other than 'Woah, the dump tally just keeps on rising, date Taylor Swift now and maybe she'll write a hateful song about you :O', which is just really condescending and she doesn't deserve it.

So I like this song for totally sticking it to those tabloids right in the first verse. Granted it could be seen as immature, but it's still always gonna be a step above those irrational neckbeard hatres. And a bonus is that the song is quite catchy too. Following a string of 'lol, let's just stick some brass awkwardly into the song because "Thrift Shop"' hits of late, this is one that does so in a tasteful manner that actually fits with the song. Two good Shellback hits in a row, what are the odds?!

The spoken word bridge reminds me a whole lot of "On A Mission" by Gabrielle Cilmi and like that it's pretty cringey and detracts from the song, but not enough to stop me from being glad that she finally has a #1 hit that's worth getting there. 4.2

*****As corny as it is, this song has been quite inspiring to me and I admire it in many ways. Taylor has always been in my good books somehow, and as someone who used to be very critical on public personalities of artists in the earlier years of this decade, she has always impressed me with her politeness and professionalism. (I have since ceased to care about artists' personal lives nowadays because I have matured a lot since then and frankly it is none of my business. That said, I still think artists are very responsible for whatever image or personality they choose to portray to the public and they should be accountable for that).

Taylor has certainly been quite unavoidable in terms of hearing about gossip over the past few years though. And I found what she does with this song to be very admirable. A lead single from her 5th album? It could have been anything really. Love, a relationship, another "signature" break-up song like We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together? Instead, she steps out of the box and writes about something that many artists struggle to execute well.

I don't find anything wrong with engaging with the media or with public perception. If anything, it's what artists should be doing more often! It demonstrates an intelligent and mature knowledge of your position and understanding of your surroundings, and to creatively present a response couldn't be more interesting for a songwriter while still being very personal and engaging. It's what we all do in a society that is constantly changing and evolving. And honestly, I'm sick of all the same love tripe that we get literally 90% of the time. However, as I said before, the execution of this idea is much easier said than done.

So what does Taylor do here? Yes, this is very much a response to the criticism she has faced over the past few years. But how she does it is even more impressive. It could have very well been a song filled with spite and hate to the media, for her past relationships, for anyone simply because they're haters. Instead, she transforms the negativity into her own fun, upbeat, positive and uplifting track, 'shaking' off the criticism and getting on with her life just like we all should when facing such things in our lives. What was technically a really lame "f**k you" has evolved into an uplifting, catchy and upbeat track that is easy to dance to and make your day feel better. It's the failed-inspirational anthem that is actually inspirational! Taylor doesn't care, so why should you! Everything about the song reflects this, from the obvious lyrics to the upbeat brass loops and beat, and just how it all culminates into honestly one of the funnest and most positive tracks of 2014.

To me, this exceptionally mature step from Taylor has been really impressive for not only me, but surely the other millions of people that this track has resonated with. It's one thing to write a song like this, but then to execute it and perform it so naturally, this surely will become one of her best songs ever. After a very clunky and forced "Red" era, this basically felt like an effortless transition into pop. It's really quite fascinating how at-home she feels despite this not being her 'home' genre. Her endearing VMAs performance and the fun music video only affirm all these points and are both worth watching.Last edited: 25.02.2015 07:29

***Upon release this sounded fresh and went pop in the ears, already it's sounding very dated and stale and in all honesty it doesn't scream hit.Apart from Bad Blood this will be the second worst released singles off 1979.